Indigenous Media and Popular Culture in the Philippines

public, identifying as Igorot groups, and containing the highest number of group members. This uses the Ethnic Self Identification Measurement Domains Model by Trimble, et al. (2002) to identify which Self Identification Measurement Domains Measures are commonly used by Igorot group members of the chosen Facebook groups. Finally, the chapter aims to prove that the social media paves the way in the creation of a virtual ili for the Igorot diaspora and allows them to assert their ethnic identity and converge as a community.
Chapter 4: Radical Storytelling: When the Lumad Youth (Re)write the Indigenous and the Juvenile (Jose Monfred C. Sy, University of the Philippines Diliman)- In this chapter, the author proposes that stories written by Lumad students struggling against the destruction of their schools and communities in their ancestral domain trouble hegemonic essentializing and romantic constructions of both indigenous and young peoples. Indigenous peoples and the youth are tied not only in the vast quantities of oral texts that they create, but also in their socio-economic, cultural, and political marginalization in society. The study explores their reconstructions in examples of LCYA, namely Si Obello and the anthology Ang Bayabas sa Tagaytay at Ibang Kuwento mula sa Kabataan ng Paaralang Lumad (The Guavas at the Ridge and Other Stories from the Youth of Lumad Schools, 2019), books purported to contribute to the Lumad movement for self-determination by dramatizing the communities' unshakeable conviction to defend their yutang kabilin (ancestral land). By exercising a constructive agency against "voiceless" constructedness, the tellers of these stories reposition the indigenous and the juvenile as active agents in effecting social justice.
Chapter 5: The Weapon of Cultures: Necropolitics and Death in the Cinema on the Indigenous Peoples of Mindanaw (Jay Jomar Quintos, University of the Philippines Diliman)- Using Achille Mbembe's concept of necropolitics, or "the power and capacity to dictate who is able to live and who must die," this chapter explores how the rendering of death in the film "Ang mga Tigmo sa Akong Pagpauli" is primarily entwined in the unequal economic distribution, anti-poor policies that favor foreigners, and draconian power interplay propagated by the Philippine state. The systemic disenfranchisement towards the Indigenous Peoples is significantly evident in natural disasters, human rights abuses, and political violence in Mindanaw, even during the time of Rodrigo Roa Duterte - the first Mindanawon president of the Philippines. Finally, this chapter investigates how Lumad death in "Ang mga Tigmo sa Akong Pagpauli" can be conspicuously tragic but at the same time, a weapon of cultures.
Chapter 6: Reframing & Reclaiming Kulintang Music: Countering Written History with Contemporary Reality (Mary T. Lacanlale, California State University, Dominguez Hills)- In the first musicological article about Philippine music written in the United States, Frances Densmore claimed that the music of the "Moros'' at the 1904 World's Fair lacked any unifying forms, had "bewildering" rhythms, and was uncivilized. She repeatedly described the sound of the kulintang, which she referred to only as "Moro gongs," as banging,  clashing, and fiercely aggressive, much in the same way she described the people themselves. This chapter explains Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble of Southern California's approach to reclaiming and reframing Densmore's point of view from her disposition as a researcher in the early 20th century, restoring an understanding of kulintang music through the melodies, improvisation, complex rhythmic structure, and cultural context. Each member of the ensemble reflects on several quotes by Densmore about the Sama and Maranao musicians at the 1904 World's Fair by complimenting her findings with their own research-based material from interpersonal relationships with native master artists-all of which Densmore failed to grasp and mischaracterized. Subsequently, Densmore's article is still read as one of the first works of comparative musicology; the foundation of the discipline of ethnomusicology. Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble's performance ends with Kim Kalanduyan-a Maguindanao- Filipinx-American kulintang artist raised in California who descended from the Kalanduyan family of musicians from Datu Piang, Cotabato-giving her own emic perspective on Maguindanao kulintang music contrary to Densmore's assumption that "the native music of the Filipinos will soon pass away...until all the Filipino music shall be merged at last in 'The Star-spangled Banner.'"
Chapter 7: Lumad Voices in a Never-ending Struggle: Representation of the Lumad People's Activism and Resistance to Oppression in Alternative Media (Belinda F. Espiritu, University of the Philippines Cebu)- This chapter looks into the direct quotations of Lumad activists, which are expressions of the Lumad peoples' thoughts, feelings, struggles and aspirations with the onslaught of attacks by the state-military-business nexus to their ancestral lands and communities, in alternative media news stories and articles in the Philippines. Using the reflective and intentional theories of representation, this essay looks into the words of the Lumad people as a reflection of their objective reality and as the source of ultimate meaning of their words based on their experiences, background, and perspectives. At the same time, the Standpoint theory, which says that the views of the marginalized or oppressed give a more objective picture of reality than the view of those in the upper socioeconomic status, is to be used.
Chapter 8: Benguet Kankana-ey Identity Construction in Local Films in the Cordillera, Philippines (Peter Pitas Dalocdoc, Jr., Benguet State University)- By examining the films produced by the Kankana-ey people in the Northern Philippines, this paper tracks the history of film production in the Benguet province, one of the traditional home lands of the Kankana-ey people, and dissects the cultural identity themes embodied in the selected films. The unearthed cultural identity themes revolve in the following areas: Use of the Kankana-ey Language, Use of other Languages, Language Preference, Familiarity with the Kankana-ey Traditional Practices and Legends, Faithand Religion, Food Preference, Migration, Family Ties, Social Values, Education, Gender Role Orientation, and Love Relationship and Marriage. A reflection of the Kankana-eys' day-to-day lives, the local vernacular films narrate the people's struggles and aspirations. Inspired by the historical experiences, the films brought the Kankana-ey viewers to their identity by "presenting the past."
Chapter 9: Balitok, the Creation of the Ili, and the Decentering/Recentering of the Land in Ibaloy Folklore and Literature (LA Piluden, University of the Philippines Baguio)- For centuries the Ibaloys of Benguet have used traditional methods to mine for balitok (gold) and other precious metals from their mountains. The presence of balitok, like promethean fire, transformed Ibaloy society: balitok was first intended by Kabunian to scatter the ili and introduce trade to the mountain people; gold however also brought about social stratification and the arrival of colonial forces into the interior Cordilleras. As chronicled in their wealth of folk narratives that persist to this day, the Ibaloys' view of balitok and its acquisition teach us not only of the value of land-based thinking, wealth distribution, and resource management, but they also remind us that the world as we know it is a world of landslides: of instability and precariousness. Living in our global ili where the present climate crisis destabilizes the everyday, the Ibaloy mythology of gold is a myth for our times, reminding us of our ownunstable place in nature. Drawing from this cosmology are literary offshoots from Ibaloy writers like Sinai Hamada ("The Punishment of Kutnon" and "The Pagan"), Ryan Guinaran("Umsiang"), and Melvin Magsanoc ("The Gold Rush"). These writers present a reimaginingofhow the ili is transformed by balitok (and how balitok, in turn, is transformed by us), from Hamada's reportage of local life in the early colonial period, Guinaran's Itogon-inspired verses about the transformation and objectification of land through the mining of gold, to Melvin Magsanoc's poem about a gold rush that erodes not only the physicality of the land but also our collective well-being.
Chapter 10: Epilogue: Theorization and Futures of Indigenous Media in the Philippines (Jason Paolo Telles, University of the Philippines Baguio and Monash University)- This final chapter seeks to present a theorization and/or a conceptualization of indigenous media, literature, and pop culture in the Philippines. This shall serve as a conclusion and examination of the "identity," characteristics, and features of such cultural products, as well as their significance and roles in indigenous communities and even the society at large. Future trajectories and recommended research tracks shall also be discussed here.